The Surprising Reason Samuel L. Jackson Connected With Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Samuel L. Jackson has acted in more than 100 feature films, but his latest movie—Tim Burton’s fantasy Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children—is one that resonates with him personally. The Oscar nominee stars as a sinister villain who preys on kids that possess special physical abilities or unusual personality traits. The film celebrates those who are different—and Jackson understands firsthand what it feels like to be an outcast.

“I was never popular growing up. When I was a kid, I stuttered, which made kids pick on me and laugh at me in a very specific way,” Jackson told Vanity Fair at the movie’s lavish red-carpet premiere Monday night, held at New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue. “It was hard, and I felt like an outsider. I never wanted to talk because people would laugh at me. I found myself to be peculiar in that way.”

Eva Green, who plays the film’s titular character, can relate to Jackson. The Casino Royale Bond girl knows what it’s like to be unconventional.

“I was very shy as a child. It was really painful for me to be in school and to be asked questions. I blushed whenever the teacher would ask me a question, and it was paralyzing,” Green recalled. “To be blushing so badly and not be able to make friends and go to birthday parties like all the other children was really difficult. I think lots of people feel weird at some point and I hope this movie shows that being a bit weird is O.K. I think it’s actually quite nice to be strange.”

The movie—based on the best-selling 2011 young adult novel by Ransom Riggs— follows a teenager (Asa Butterfield), who travels back in time to Britain during World War II to discover a school for unusual children supervised by a shape-shifting headmistress (Green). He helps protect the school by fighting against a mad scientist (Jackson) seeking immortality. With Burton bringing his quirky imagination to the big-screen adaptation, Jackson knew his first collaboration with the famed director would be magical.

“Tim has a very specific idea about what he wants to do. and he creates these very unique worlds with these very unique people living inside of them,” said Jackson. “Before we shot the movie, he sent me a picture of how my character would look, and I had never seen anything like it. He’s a genius. He knows exactly what he wants, and he makes you feel really good about what you are doing.”

As Miss Peregrine’s menacing villain, Jackson vamps it up in a startling white wig, luminescent contact lenses, pointy fangs, and a suit designed by three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood. Luckily, the transformation did not require hours in the hair and makeup trailer—but Jackson was slightly annoyed that his ghoulish look did not intimidate his child co-stars.

“The kids were never afraid of me. They treated me like I was a pet puppy,” he said. “They tickled me and jumped on me. I’m like, ‘You’re supposed to be afraid of me!’”

To honor the movie’s September 30 opening, Saks Fifth Avenue teamed up with designer Marc Jacobs to a create series of Miss Peregrine window displays for the department store’s flagship location in mid-town Manhattan. Jacobs incorporated the actual costumes and props from the set, mixed with clothes from his Fall/Winter 16 collection, for the installation.